New Englander's

Five years ago this month we moved to New Hampshire. Since then, we have learned a lot about this part of the country. To celebrate our 5 years here, we thought we would share 5 things that we have learned since we have been in New England.

1. We learned what a frost heave is. Before we moved here, Colin's company flew us out to look for housing one weekend. We were on our way to see the townhouse we eventually ended up renting for a couple years, and it was winter. There was a sign on the road to the townhouse that said "Frost Heaves". The road was covered with snow so we didn't see the big dip in the road up ahead. I looked at Colin and said "I wonder what a frost heave is?" I barely got the words out before we hit one. We looked at each other and said "that must be it."



2. People around here cheer for the Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees! If you are at a game at Fenway, for your own safety, don't wear a Jeter shirt or mention the names Bill Buckner, Bucky Dent, or Aaron Boone. It also wouldn't hurt to learn the words to Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond.



3. New Englander's have a distinct accent. If there is an R at the end of a word, it becomes an "AH" sound at the end. For example, a drawer is pronounced "drah", car is "cah", chowder is "chowdah", and you "pahk your cah at havahd yahd" Don't worry, they don't just toss the R aside and leave it. They bring it back on words that it isn't suppose to be on. For example, idea is actually "idear". Just about anything that ends in an A, gets an R added to it. Who knew? :)

4. Wicked is a word that is used to describe something good. For example- "wicked awesome". A local restaurant has a sign outside that says it best,"wicked good food".

5. And finally, if you don't like the weather in New England, wait 5 minutes, it will change!

I'm not sure if we will ever truly be "New Englander's", but our time here has definitely been an adventure!

Got Guns?

Colin has been doing the P90X exercise program with some co workers every morning for the last month and a half. If you aren't familiar with the P90X program, you do a variety of different exercises for 90 days. At the end of the 90 days, there is a promise that you will be "ripped". The other morning before the workout, the trainer on the video said "You'll want to hit the beach and show off your guns after this intense workout". It was a beautiful springlike day in NH today, so we headed to Maine to the beach and of course I had to take a picture of Colin and his "guns". Can you see them beneath the sweatshirt? :)

Wally's Birthday

It's Wally's birthday this month. He is 8 years old. I got Wally as a birthday present from my dad about 5 months before I met Colin. Wally was just 5 weeks old and fit in the palm of my hand when I first got him. In the beginning, it was me and Wally against the world!



He was a ferocious little guy, and protective of his mama. Actually, he still is!



And also very cute.



Grandma and Grandpa Battersby sent him a birthday gift this year. Here is a video of Colin helping him open his present. Happy Birthday Wally dog!
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It's Official....We are OLD!!

On Friday night we went to a 70's-80's dance for the adults in our ward. We had a fun night visiting with friends and we boogied the night away. The next day Colin woke up with a sore hamstring...I guess those splits weren't a good idea. :) Just kidding! We had a great time at the dance and felt like kids again.

Fast forward to Saturday night. It was Colin's turn in young men's to chaperone the youth dance...which meant it was also my turn. The first clue that we might be getting old is the dread that we felt at going out 2 nights in a row. I mean, we were just out the night before! :) In my mind it doesn't seem like it has been that long since I was going to these youth dances. I guess I am also delusional, because in reality it has been about 17 years! We spent 3 hours watching teenagers jumping up and down to loud synthesizer music and calling it dancing, and looking at our watches every 2 minutes to see if it was over yet. We came to the conclusion that as young as we might think we are in our own minds, that we really are getting OLD!

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is a bittersweet day for us. We love watching the game and making good food and rooting for our favorite teams, but we are also a little sad because that means football is over for 7 long months. So after tonights game, we will anxiously wait for preseason football to start in the fall.

We have been busy this afternoon making some yummy food to take to a Super Bowl gathering we are going to. Check out this cool football cake that Colin made.


He did all of the teams logos freehand. I think he did a great job. He made a Seahawks football cake when they were in the Super Bowl against the Steelers a few years back. We won't talk about how the Seahawks were ROBBED during that game, but here is a photo of the cake.


This year we don't have a real rooting interest in either team so we are just hoping for a good game. It would be nice if New Orleans won since they are the underdog, but they will have their work cut out for them trying to stop the Colts. Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone!